§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research has been carried out into comparative post-operative death rates between England and other OECD countries. [129651]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 19 September 2003]Although full international comparisons of health status and health outcomes are well developed in many areas, such as cancer and coronary heart disease mortality, there has been almost nothing equivalent on the subject of post-operative mortality. There are occasionally specific studies comparing individual hospitals, but the Department of Health is not aware of any systematic studies comparing post-operative mortality rates between countries.